Dark Kiss
by PinkStarz
Summary: Murders have been occuring within Garden, each with a hint of supernatural aura buried within.
1. First times a charm

Dark Kiss 

(Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Final Fantasy 8 and they belong to whoever owns them.)

The stars shone like diamonds in the midnight black sky. The rain fell like jewels. Ellone knew if she took one step out she would be drenched. She went anyways. The woman lifted her face to the sky, savouring the refreshing feeling. In the distance she saw a figure stumble and then struggle to get up. She ran in the stranger's direction, and helped the familiar face get up.

" You shouldn't be out here," she said, smiling. " It's after curfew."

The man said nothing, causing Ellone to look at him with surprise. He appeared pale, paler than usual. She touched the side of his face.

" You're so cold..."

He finally looked at her, then held his head in his hands.

" No..." he whispered. " I...I can't...."

" Are you all right?" Ellone asked. She held onto the mans shoulders. In response he slowly lifted his head, then grabbed Ellone.

" What....what are you doing?" she cried out. She turned her face, afraid to look at his. Something was wrong.

The Next Day

Zell swore, then shuffled to the table. 

" Out of hotdogs?" Selphie asked. She was about to take a bite out of her own when Zell grabbed it from her, finishing it in two bites. " Hey!"

Zell yelped as Selphie kicked him, then took her seat at the cafeteria table. At that moment, Quistis walked in slowly appearing worn out and grim. She took a seat at the table and looked at Zell then Selphie with tears in her eyes.

" Ellone...was found dead this morning."

Silence hung over the three like a suffocating fog. Selphie began to cry and Zell held her.

" How did she die?" Zell asked quietly.

Quistis took a deep breath in and spoke quietly. " Massive blood loss. Rinoa found her just outside the Garden."

" How is Rinoa feeling?"

" Not good. Squall and Irvine are with her right now," Quistis sighed. This was going on too fast, too sudden. She couldn't recall any type of monster with the ability to cause close to complete blood loss. So was it a case of murder? She hadn't seen the body herself; Ellone had been taken away minutes after the discovery.

" I'm going to go see Rinoa, " said Selphie, getting up. Zell followed leaving Quistis lingering behind for awhile but then joining them as well.

~~~~

Continuing to cry in Squall's arms, Rinoa tried to accept what had happened, what she had seen but it was becoming increasingly overwhelming. Rinoa held onto Squall tighter, not wanting to ever let go. Over and over again the same scene repeated itself in her mind; Ellones delicate, fragile body lying directly in front of the head gate, lifeless.

" Squall..." Rinoa whispered. " She was so young...so innocent...why did this have to happen to her?" She gazed up to meet with her boyfriend's blue eyes. "Why?"

" I...I don't know..." A single tear ran down Squall's cheek and he brushed it away with the back of his hand. He had cared for Ellone more then anything; possibly he cared for her more then he cared for Rinoa. She was the only family he had. It was a blow to the head losing her the first time when he was seven; now the pain would be permanent leaving a scar that would never fade, a wound that would never heal.

Irvine remained silent, standing near the window in Rinoa's room. Squall remembered how Ellone was the one who taught Irvine the skill of attracting butterflies. He held Rinoa tighter.

A knock was heard on the door and Irvine answered the call.

" How is she?" Selphie whispered. She struggled to look over her boyfriend's shoulder so she could see how the princess was coping with her startling discovery. Irvine motioned for the three SeeD's to come in, remarking that Rinoa has been better. Noticing the visitors, Rinoa plunged into Selphie's arms, sobbing and saying words that no one could deceiver. Selphie stroked her hair and comforted her while Quistis motioned for Irvine, Squall and Zell to meet with her outside of the dorm room. Once the door was closed behind them, she began to talk.

" The question here is who did this and how," she stated. The boys remained silent. " We will have to track down that creature and kill it," Now Quistis was trembling. "Whatever did this is mad and deranged. It must be stopped at all costs!" Irvine put his arms around the instructor, struggling to calm her down.

" Quisty, we've all been affected by this, you can't be so hasty."

" I agree with Quistis," Squall said abruptly. Anger began to boil inside of him, extinguishing the sorrow. He vowed to make Ellone's killer pay.

" So where do we start?" Zell asked, leaning against the smooth wall.

" The attack was at night, so I'm assuming another attack may happen again at night as well."

" What makes you so confident that this killer will strike again?" Zell narrowed his eyes.

" One victim is never enough," Quistis said, feeling purely confident. " We shall stake out the Garden from dusk until dawn. Is that understood?"

The boys nodded and from this, Quistis turned on her heals, sauntering out of the dorms. 

~~~~

The Garden was in a stir. News regarding Ellone has traveled fast through the mouths of the teenaged Garden cadets and now everyone was in knowledge of what had happened. Squall winced as he walked through the buzzing halls of the Garden, rubbing his sore arm from the shot the new infirmary doctor had given him. Squall hadn't felt sick over the past month yet everyday the doctor had insisted that Squall be given the shots.

" You have a terrible virus in your blood, Squall," He had stated. " If it spreads, you may become severely ill or worse, perhaps even die. The best option that you can choose is for you to come here daily so I can inject you with the medicine required to cure this illness."

If there was anything Squall hated, it was being sick. Luckily, that rarely happened. Until now.

Zell came bounding down the hallways, disrupting Squalls train of thought.

" You ready for the stake out?" he asked, expression serious. Squall nodded and Zell continued. " Quistis told me to inform you about the whereabouts of our stations. Irvine is guarding the Infirmary to the dorms. I've got the other side. Quistis is outside and you're assigned to the second floor."

When finished, he left Squall to his post. Zell had only gone a few steps when he heard Squall cry out. Squall was gripping the worn side of a bench and was keeled over.

" Squall, what's the matter, man?" Zell dropped down beside Squall and struggled to lift him up.

" I feel dizzy but I can still go, " Squall protested while gasping. He got up and took one step forward before collapsing on the polished floor.

~~~~


	2. Innocent Angels...together even in death

~~~~

" Rinoa, will you be able to look after him?" Zell asked. He had carried Squall all the way to his dorm room after he had passed out. The infirmary doctor had said it was a side effect from the medication Squall was taking which was somewhat of a surprise to Zell since Squall hadn't mentioned he was sick or on any type of drugs. Then again, it was Squall.

Zell turned his attention back to Rinoa who had cast her eyes to the floor.

" Actually," Rinoa began. " I would like to take Squall's position on the second floor."

The brunette desperately wanted to find the killer of Ellone and was slightly happy the side effects of Squall's medicine had kicked in.

" Sure," Zell said. " Lemme call Selphie here to look after Squall." He walked towards Squall's rarely used phone and dialled Selphie's dorm room number. After saying a few words, he put the phone down.

" Yeah, she'll be here."

Squall groaned from his bed. " I don't need anyone to look after me."

Rinoa looked at him sceptically. 

" You can't always rely on yourself." She said, smiling.

" Whatever." Squall rolled over, deciding to ignore her. Zell and Rinoa stood in silence for a minute until Selphie burst through the door.

" You guys can go now; Squall will be fine with me!" She chirped. Squall shuddered and struggled not to cry out for help.

~~~~

Irvine ran his hand over the rifle admiring the smooth craftsmanship. An hour had passed with no disturbances, causing Irvine to lose interest in what he was assigned to do. He yawned then checked his watch.

" 12:36 in the morning." He muttered. There was still six more hours to go.

~~~~

Rinoa paced in the upstairs hallway near the elevators. She wished the killer would show him or herself instead of playing this 'game' with the rest of them. Her heart ached for Squall knowing that he felt pain beyond anything else in this universe. Ellone, how would it be like never to see someone again?

~~~~

Selphie smiled. Squall looked so innocent when he was sleeping. His angered, ever scowling face finally relaxed, making him appear even more handsome then he already was.

_I wonder what Irvine is doing?_ Selphie's mind drifted off into her never ending thoughts and now she wanted to visit her boyfriend. She knew it would be best to stay with Squall until he was better, and in case he tried to sneak out and avenge the death of Ellone, but wouldn't it be all right to leave him for only a few minutes?

Just to be sure eh wasn't a light sleeper, she tapped him on the nose. There was no response. Selphie left the room, walking down the long, dark hallway. She was halfway through when a figure grabbed her from behind then covered her mouth.

" Don't scream," the creature hissed. " Don't even try to move."

Selphie knew she could take her attacker out in a matter of moments, but she was too struck with fear to even whimper. The assailant grabbed her by the waist, dragging her back towards the dorms. She closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them, all this would be gone and she would be in her room, alone. Once her eyes were opened, she realized in irony that at least half of her vision was true. She was in her dorm room, but not alone. 

Hoisting her up, it pinned her to the wall and she took a good look at the face.

" If you think this is funny--"

It laughed.

" Selph, you are so naive..." Her once friend said, pressing its body against Selphie's, making her gasp once more. Trailing a finger along her neck, the betrayer whispered, " So naive..." Then all went red.

~~~

Quistis tried to stifle a yawn. She was relieved to see the golden sun come out yet disappointed that the murderer refused to reveal itself. Her shoes clicked in a set rhythm on the tile floor as she made her way inside the Garden. Spotting Irvine leaning against the fountain, she walked towards him and flipped off his hat.

" Hey!" Then he noticed who it was. " Any luck?"

Quistis shook her head. " I just came here to tell you it's time to draw back." She looked past the fountain. " Where's Zell?"

" He went to go check up on Selphie and Squall."

As if on cue, Zell came running out of the dorms, his face flushed.

" Selphie's not there!" He said frantically. Irvine's eyes widened.

" What?"

" I went to see her and she's not in Squall's room!" Zell repeated. " I tried to wake Squall but the guy's in a coma!"

Quistis remained calm. " Did you check her room? She may be changing or something."

Zell slapped his forehead, then ran back in the direction he came from. Quistis and Irvine weren't too far behind. They pushed through the students rushing towards the washrooms, for in the mornings it was always a rush to get there first. After struggling through the mass of bodies, the three arrived at Selphie's closed room. Irvine knocked.

" Selph?" Once more. " Selph?" And again. " Selphie?"

" It's unlocked..." Quistis said, cautiously turning the knob. They weren't surprised when they saw the mess, Selphie was quite disorganized and everyone knew it for a fact. Selphie herself was laying face down on her bed, which was a common position for her to sleep in.

" Hey Selph, " Irvine said, sitting on the edge of Selphie's bed. " Wake up."

It seemed Quistis was the only one who noticed something was not right, for she gasped and backed up. The girl's chest was not moving.

" She asleep?" Zell asked. " Yo, Selph. Wake up." Zell shook her shoulder and her head rolled to the side. A small trail of blood ran from her neck onto the bed, making it look like rose petals across shimmering snow. Somewhat of a cry was heard from Quistis, for her suspicion was confirmed. Zell backed up to where Quistis was trembling and Irvine grabbed Selphie's limp body, shaking her out of grief.

" Selphie, Selphie! Wake up, now!" He began to sob, holding the deceased girl against him.

" She's so pale..." Quistis said in monotone. " Just like Ellone..."

Zell was shaking with rage. " Whoever did this..." Quistis placed her hand on Zell's shoulder and led him out of the room, leaving Irvine time to mourn the loss of the one girl he had ever truly loved.

~~~

" We're not safe anymore, " Quistis whispered. The headmaster gazed over the vast sea, trying to digest what Quistis had told him. It seemed too out of the ordinary, too bizarre to be happening in his Garden.

" Yes, I know. My most experienced SeeD's couldn't stop this creature from taking another life." He turned to face the ex-instructor. " It's a shame hat Squall Leonhart is unable to help due to his illness."

" He'll get over it," Quistis said quickly. " Zell did."

Cid nodded. " I'm not sure what to do anymore, Miss. Trepe," He paused and rubbed his temples. This was all becoming too much for him.

" Two lives are already too much," Quistis remarked solemnly.

" Yes, yes. All we know is that the fiend strikes at night then drains all of the blood out of the victim. But perhaps there is a way..."

" And what might that be?" Quistis asked. 

" Firstly we--" the phone rang in a shrill tone, cutting Cid off. He excused himself, tossing papers in the air and muttering profanities during his vain search for his phone.

The SeeD shook her head and left Cid in the mess that was his office.

~~~

Zell smashed his fist into the wall of the Quad.

" What the hell are we supposed to do now?" He growled angrily.

" For starters, you can stop trying to break the Garden apart," Quistis said, giving Zell an equally angry side look. She sat down on the ledge the marble water fountain. " When Cid is done with his duties, we'll know then."

Flipping her brunette hair, Rinoa placed her hands on her hips and glared at both Zell and Quistis.

" Listen, we don't have time to wait for Cid to tell us what to do. We need to take matters into our own hands!" She cast her eyes down. " For Selphie and for Ellone."

" You're right," Quistis whispered. " What do you have in mind?"

" I haven't thought of anything yet. Give me some time." Rinoa placed her hand on her forehead, feeling stressed. " It will come."

" Well, that's just great!" Zell shot up and grabbed Rinoa by her slim shoulders. " So while you're thinking, more people are going to die!"

" I never said--"

" Shut up. Just shut up," Zell commanded. " What we're going to do is talk to Squall. He's the only one who can save us."

~~~


	3. Getting closer...

~~~

He was so thirsty. He wanted it to stop. Someone else was doing it and he was going to take the blame. Why him? What was happening to him? Wasn't this only supposed to be the result of a dark kiss? He hadn't killed. It was something else. Or had he? Perhaps he was delusional. Yes, that was it. He was delusional, dysfunctional. What he needed was sleep. Because the light hurt so much.

~~~

" He's dead," Xu announced. She dropped the limp hand of Irvine Kinneas, and looked away from his mangled and torn torso. Three people in two days. But why did she have to be the one to find the body? Xu had always thought Irvine was a very handsome man, but now his face was...raw pulp. It sickened her and it took all of her strength not to throw up. Now it was only the question of whether he was murdered as well. His body was not found the same way as the other two victims. In fact, he had been pushed, or he had jumped from the balcony from the ballroom.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see a very pale Squall, and it seemed to take all of his effort simply to walk to her.

" Squall, you look terrible!" Xu cried out. Squall gave a limp nod, then slowly walked towards his fallen comrade.

" Cid told me that you found him," Squall said. " I don't know how this happened."

" I never said you did," Xu whispered. Poor Irvine, he had his entire future ahead of him. It was so sad, first the woman he loved died then...

" Maybe he committed suicide," Xu suggested. " After all, Selphie was found about five hours ago."

The pavement was red with his blood that had stopped flowing. His eyes were closed.

" Selphie," Squall muttered." Ellone...now this." 

He swayed a bit then steadied himself onto the side of Garden.

" Maybe you shouldn't be here," Xu said, but meant as an order. Then again, she was no longer in charge of Squall. He was commander, ahead of all others. Xu sighed, taking one last look at Irvine before walking away.

Squall remained behind. He was almost mesmerized by the crimson colour of Irvine's blood. So red and thick...but the blood that had died up was darker, almost brown coloured. His eyes stayed on Irvine, even as the emergency unit took him away, to be buried in the cold ground and forgotten.

~~~

" It's as if this person is singling out only us!" Zell told Squall as they all sat together in Squall's dorm room. Squall nodded slowly, but not a single word that Zell said had gone through his head. Just a constant high pitched ringing.

" I'm going crazy..." He muttered. Luckily, no one had heard him. Instead they were all hounding each other on how to stop this creature of darkness. After about fifteen minutes of yelling, they all were silent, staring all Squall for the answer.

" What do you want me to do?" Squall asked angrily. He fell back against his hard pillow and shut his eyes. If only they would all shut up...

" You're the commander for Garden!" Quistis yelled. " I would expect you had come to some resolution!"

" Just kill it," Squall simply said.

" That's not going to work, mainly because we've never seen it and we don't know how to find it," Quistis said calmly. She was beginning to get fed up with Squall's behaviour.

" I know how," The raspy voice turned the three heads towards Rinoa, who hadn't spoken since Irvine's death.

" We leave someone for bait," Said she. " The creature will come and we'll kill it. Then nobody will die. It'll be the way it was." Her eyes lowered to the floor ." The way it was..."

" I agree with Rin," Zell got up and began to shadow box. " That bastard is not gonna live for very long now!"

~~~

The plan should have worked perfectly. Rinoa standing outside of Garden, alone. Or so it seemed. She waited. Quistis waited. Zell waited. But nothing happened. If only they could have seen the future for the minute they had called it a night, Fujin's body had been found by Quistis. Stumbling to her room in a tired daze, she had tripped over something in the dark and fell on the hard floor. When her eyes looked up, the first thing she saw was a hand. A pale hand then the dark cuff of the shirt the Fujin always wore.

Quistis gasped, then struggled not to scream. Pale, like the others. And her eyes were open, almost accusing Quistis for not saving her.

Quistis scrambled up, then ran for her life towards Cid's office. The sun shined on her, the sun, which represented goodness and light. And it burned her eyes.

~~~

" There's no hope," The doctor told Squall as he injected him with the medicine. " All of the students in Garden have no hope."

Squall nodded, although he didn't believe a single word that the doctor had spoken. It may have seemed that Squall himself had lost hope, but he was far from it. He wouldn't stand around and watch as his friends were murdered one by one. In fact, he had _seen _things at night. While he woke up in the middle of the night, raging with thirst, he had seen it. He had seen a figure emerging from Selphie's room, he had seen Irvine fall from the balcony. He had even seen a figure holding Fujin, who was silent to the end. The unfortunate part was that Squall was too delusional to actually deceiver who was doing all of these killings. The view was always fuzzy, the voice was always morphed. If only he could have been in his right mind when he had witnessed this.

" ...having trouble sleeping. Squall, are you listening to me?" The doctor asked. Squall snapped his attention back on the middle aged man.

" I was saying that you probably will have trouble sleeping and be slightly dehydrated by this. But the dehydration is the best way to rid of the virus."

Squall had no idea what the doctor was talking about but he nodded anyways. He was rolling down his sleeves when Squall noticed that his arm had cuts all over them.

" What the..." Why hadn't he noticed them before. The doctor took one look at the cuts, then dismissed them.

" An after effect," He said.

Squall rolled his jacket sleeves back down and calmly walked out of the infirmary. 

~~~

Ellone, Selphie, Irvine and Fujin. But there were so many more. Almost an endless supply. By now they should know what it was. But they were in denial. And their denial towards fantasy was the passageway to their end.

~~~

" Dammit, Leonhart! You're not doing a single thing! Not a single fucking thing!" Seifer yelled, smashing his gunblade on Squall's desk, which fell in two perfect pieces. " I couldn't care less about the cowboy or the messenger girl, but Elly and Fujin? I hope you know how much I want to rip you to pieces right now..." Seifer gritted his teeth and Squall could honestly say he had never seen Seifer this angry before.

" Just calm down," Squall mumbled.

" Calm down? Listen you bastard," Seifer grabbed Squall by the collar and hoisted him up. " If one more person dies, I swear to Hyne I will kill you." With that he threw Squall into his dresser, where the cupboards flew out and all of his belongings fell out.

" Bastard..." Seifer hissed. He was walking out of the room when he noticed something gleaming by his leg on the floor. A small knife, encrusted with blood.


	4. Red Wine

~~~

For a moment there seemed to be a hint of fear in his eyes, but it washed away with any other emotion Seifer was capable of showing. Instead, his face was blank as his eyes moved from the knife to Squall and then back again.

" I can explain," Squall said slowly although he didn't know why he bothered. Seifer was always the type to jump to conclusions, not listening to anyone. And he would especially let this trait overcome anything logical. But then again, the setting Squall was in at the moment obviously pointed to one thing. Even Squall himself knew what was going through Seifer's head.

Squall took a step towards the older man, but Seifer took a step back. His chest was rising and falling at an alarming rate and Squall could see that he was sweating as well. They locked eyes for a moment, Squall wishing to know what was Seifer's next move. Then it happened so fast. 

He felt as if the left side of his head had been smashed in and the pain was unbearable. A faded image of Zell looking smug and then darkness, which welcomed him.

~~~

" I can't believe it," Quistis whispered. " There has to be some mistake."

" Just stop it," Zell grumbled, standing up from the chair he was sitting on. " You're wasting your time."

Deciding not to respond, Quistis lifted up the test tube and gazed at it through the artificial light. She had been denying what had happened for five hours, and it sickened her how everyone in Balamb Garden had turned against their commander in the event of a few minutes. Squall was taken away and locked in the newly made cell in the B-level of Garden after Seifer had found a knife covered in blood in Squall's room. It had Squall's fingerprints on it but the evidence still never added up. Quistis had proposed to Cid that she be allowed to review the situation at hand before any sentence was carried out. And here she was, in the small and rarely used lab.

" The results should be ready shortly," Quistis said after removing the blood off the knife successfully.

Zell yawned and walked towards Quistis. He picked up a vile of blood, then Quistis snatched it away angrily.

" This is all I have, now please don't touch anything. If my suspicions are correct, then Squall may not be the killer after all." Quistis said, placing the vile back. 

" I don't know what you expect to find after seeing whose blood was on the knife."

" You said yourself that Squall had many cuts on himself. I'm guessing that he cuts himself, although I will admit that I don't know why-"

" His cuts were from Fujin, even the infirmary doctor said so. Self defence." Zell cut in.

Quistis narrowed her eyes.

" Very supportive, aren't you?"

Zell took a step back, then shook his head.

" I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

A small buzzer went off and Quistis jumped up from her chair, running towards the computer.

" I was right!" She cried out. Zell ran over to where she was and read the results on the computer.

" The blood _is _Squall's," He said in a flat voice. " So the guy cuts himself?"

The woman frowned as she read over more of the results. 

" This doesn't make any sense...it's showing that in his blood there's also Hexadragon venom. That can kill a normal human being."

She got up from her leaning position and put her hand to her head. None of this was making sense. Hexadragon venom, Squall's cuts and...the infirmary doctor. This had all been happening since he had arrived at Garden. She looked at Zell.

" Did you receive the same treatment as Squall did for your virus?" Quistis asked.

" Yeah...why?"

" I'm just asking."

Nothing was any clearer and she was beginning to lose hope. Perhaps Squall did commit the murders--but for what purpose? He had nothing against any of them as far as she knew. Then why didn't he kill Seifer when he found the knife? There was the possibility that Zell had arrived just before Squall could do so, but he never did put up a fight.

And if the murder weapon was a knife, why on each of the victims there were two small yet almost ripped open holes? How could such small wounds cause them to die of blood loss? Something seemed to scream out the answer but if only she could grasp it. Then the remembrance of a long ago legend. Pure myth, but people used to talk about creatures that Hyne had placed on earth shortly after the monsters and before the humans. Things that would survive by drinking the blood of other beings. Vampires, she believed they were called. There was no such evidence pointing to these creatures being real but after everything that had happened recently, she didn't push the thought completely out of her mind. Especially since she was forgetting a piece of the legend that seemed vital. That seemed to be the missing piece.

" Zell," She whispered, as if afraid that someone would hear them. " I have a theory."

She told what she had figured out so far to him and after hearing her thoughts, he made a face.

" That's crazy," He said, leaning back in a chair next to Quistis. " Vampires? I'm sure that Cid will take that literally."

" I'm serious, Zell!" She shouted. Quistis got up and hovered over Zell, continuing to shout. 

" This makes absolutely no sense, I'm aware of that! But nothing else fits the puzzle. The complete blood loss, the wounds...it all makes sense!"

" So you're saying that Squall is the vampire?" Zell said, skeptical.

" Perhaps he is but...I need more evidence to back this up."

She was calm now although her face was flustered. What was bothering her now was not whether Squall was innocent or not, it was how calm Zell was. He seemed to be taking all of this lightly and throughout the years she had known him, he was famous for not being able to keep control during a time of crisis.

Quickly she went back to the computer and into the student files. There she opened Zell's and clicked on his medical records. He was injected with the same medicene as Squall. Making sure that Zell was not looking, she grabbed the wrack of test tubes and searched for Zell's last name. Earlier on in the year, every student had to give in a blood sample for the infirmary doctor to go over in case one of them was infected with a certain contagious virus. Lucky for her, Zell's was still here.

" Quisty, leave it for tomorrow morning. It's getting late," Zell called out from the table across from where she was sitting.

" Just a few more minutes," She called back, placing a drop of his blood in a slide and then, into the computer. 

The minutes seemed to go by slowly, and every tick of the clock reminded her that she may be in the room with a potential killer. Then the buzzer went off. 

" What was that?" Zell asked. " Are you analyzing blood again?"

She could hear the scrape of his chair against the floor and then his heavy footsteps coming towards her. Her hands were shaking as she placed them over the mouse and clicked to see the results.

"Hurry, hurry," She whispered to herself.

The majority of Zell's blood was filled with Hexadragon venom. More then ten times the amount Squall had. And then she remembered.

" I should have known you would be the one to find out."

Quistis gasped and turned around so fast she felt as if she had snapped her neck. Zell was leaning against the table behind her and had a sinister smile on his face.

" Hexadragon venom," Quistis whispered. " The other part of the legend was that vampires were an early form of human beings, but with Hexadragon venom running through their veins."

" Nicely said." Zell clapped without any enthusiasm. " And I wouldn't try that."

Quistis pretended to sit back down in her chair as Zell walked towards her. They were silent as they stared at each other for a moment. Then Quistis leapt up and kicked Zell in the stomach. Caught off guard, he stumbled back, allowed Quistis enough time to get out of his grasp.

As she ran towards the door, she halfway expected her escape to be harder then it was. Then she cursed herself for thinking so soon.

Zell had silently crept behind one of the lab tables and now had Quistis in his arms. She kicked and punched at him but it was obvious that it was doing her no good. His grasp seemed to crush her bones and she could barely breathe, much less put up a decent fight. He groaned, then threw her on the lab table where she had been working at. The computer crashed on the floor from her impact against it and the test tubes shattered, piercing into her skin. 

She closed her eyes, silent tears running down her face. Then she struggled to get up as Zell walked slowly towards her, as if savouring the moment where he would kill her. She winced as the glass cut into her and the heels of her hands slipped on the blood that had fallen out of the tubes. 

" Please don't fight me, Quisty," Zell said. He had reached her and now was leaning over her body, his face just inches away from her neck. " Remember when we were little, you said you would always be there for me? Well, now you are. You don't know how hard it has been, trying to survive on only the blood of Caterchipillers,

Bite Bugs, and Glacial Eyes. So recently, I just couldn't take it any more. I didn't want to be this way-" His voice seemed to overflow with emotion when he said this. " -That doctor, he did it. A sick, twisted experiment of his. I was the first one, and now Squall. But don't worry-" Now he stroked the side of her face, trailing his fingers down to her neck. " -I'll get him. He managed to keep me away before but I'll get him back. Don't cry, Quisty. That's why I killed Selphie, Ellone and Fujin. They cried. I hate it when people cry. Now I have no choice but to..."

His voice trailed off and she saw him lean towards her neck and his eyes close. She closed her eyes as well and felt his hot breath on her neck. His lips on her neck, and then the pained feeling of two daggers piercing her skin. 

Then he dropped limp on top of her. She was still, too scared to see what had happened. 

" Quistis?"

That voice.

She felt Zell's body being hauled off of her and she opened her eyes to reveal her saviour.

" How did you get out?" Was the first thing that left her mouth.

Squall put a gun into his pocket, then he reached out, pulling Quistis off the table. 

" I shot him with a silver bullet. Always kills vampires," Squall said, frowning. " He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Quistis shook her head, then fell into Squall's arms.

" So you shot the guards?" She whispered into his collar.

" No, actually, they never un junctioned one of my GF's. I used sleep on them."

" A Garden guard would never allow that to happen," Quistis said, surprised. She looked up into Squall's eyes. " But never mind that. Can you explain to me what had happened? About the knife and the infirmary doctor?"

Squall took in a deep breath.

" The doctor was doing experiments, first on Zell, then me. He injected us with Hexadragon venom, making us gradually into vampires. I'm not sure if he knows yet that he had succeeded, but I'm guessing that he does due to the bodies. Irvine was not killed by Zell, in case you're wondering. He committed suicide."

" How do you know?"

" I saw his body."

There was a short silence. Then Quistis looked up at Squall again.

" If you were injected with the venom, then why haven't you drank human blood yet?"

Squall looked away from Quistis, staring into the far distance.

" That knife that Seifer found...I used it to cut myself. Then I drank my own blood."

She said nothing, but felt disgusted yet sorry for Squall at the same time. The measures he took for their welfare. That was one of the reasons why she loved him so much. She held onto him tighter, then remembered something.

" Where's Rinoa? I would expect that you would have gone to her by now."

" I will soon. I'm just worried about you," Squall said, stroking Quistis' hair. He nuzzled her neck and she closed her eyes. Then she felt him stiffen.

" What's the matter?" She whispered. 

" Nothing it's just that...you're covered in blood."

" I fell on Garden's blood samples."

" You're also bleeding from your neck. It seems that Zell drank your blood momentarily."

Quistis said nothing, but she began to pull away from Squall. 

" It's alright," He told her, keeping a firm hand on her back. Quistis smiled, telling herself to relax. It was all over now. Hopefully, they could find a cure for Squall and everything would be alright. 

As she hugged him, she suddenly felt a sharp prick on her neck. Before she could comprehend what was happening, her vision became fuzzy and her legs weak. 

" I'm sorry," Squall whispered into her neck. " But I couldn't take it anymore. Having you so close to me and covered in blood. I had no choice."

He dropped her on to the floor, and in her last moments she could hear Squall asking where Rinoa was.

~~~


End file.
